Starting Jan. 1, 2019, nonprofit organizations with tax-exempt status in the District of Columbia are required to renew their exemptions with the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) at least once every five years. Failure to renew results in the organization becoming taxable under D.C. law. As part of this requirement, any organization with an IRS determination letter more than four years old was required to obtain an affirmation letter from the IRS dated within the last year that confirmed the organization’s continued tax-exempt status.
Recently, OTR stated that it will no longer require affirmation letters from organizations seeking renewal of their tax-exempt status. Instead, OTR will confirm the tax-exempt status of these organizations on the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search website. Organizations will need to provide affirmation letters only in situations where OTR is unable to verify their statuses online. Although the D.C. online exemption application (FR-164) retains a field for uploading an affirmation letter, it is no longer a required field.
